Tinsley tackles issues at Brookfield candidate forum

Published 11:41 pm, Monday, August 31, 2009

BROOKFIELD -- First selectman candidate Bill Tinsley said at a campaign event Sunday that his

first priority if elected

in November would be to

try to make sense of the town's financial situation after a lengthy period of having no controller in Town Hall.

"I'm going to be reaching out to a lot of talent in this room to help put the

engine back on the track," Tinsley said to about 25 people, mostly Republican mainstays, gathered in a meeting room at Golf Quest on Sand Cut Road for a

"meet the candidate" event.

The town's Republican Town Committee endorsed Tinsley to run for first selectman at a meeting last month, but he expects to face a challenge for the nomination at the party caucus Tuesday from Dr. Robin Appleby, a local physician.

Tinsley began Sunday's event by making about 15 minutes of remarks on his candidacy and personal background, after which he fielded questions from the audience for about an hour.

Time and again, he stressed the town's need to develop its tax base while still retaining its character.

He asked listeners to envision a "pedestrian-friendly New England-style streetscape" on Federal Road between Junction Road and the Four Corners, saying it could be a reality if promoted effectively and cooperatively by the town's land-use commissions.

"You want to create pedestrian-friendly traffic in town," he said. "We have the opportunity to make Federal Road a pedestrian-friendly destination spot."

He also stressed the need for the town to find "creative" ways to deliver services, saying economic realities will force town employees to have to work "differently and smarter."

"We cannot sustain the kind of growth that we have in terms of per-person town employee cost," he said. "It is not sustainable."

Bringing the town's land-use commissions together was a facet of his emphasis on developing a Plan

of Conservation and Development that all of Brookfield could support, another priority should he be elected.

The town already has such a plan, but Tinsley derided it as a "plan that sits on a shelf."

"It isn't a plan that the town has really bought into," he said. "It's not a plan that's well-known."